Hard Line

Jack McMorrow Mystery #14

by Gerry Boyle

After thirty years, fourteen books, and countless thrills, award-winning author Gerry Boyle writes the exciting and bittersweet final chapter for his signature character Jack McMorrow in the gritty novel, Hard Line. In the dynamic, whipsaw finale, Boyle takes listeners on a wild ride with everyone’s favorite investigative reporter—a ride that leaves no one unscathed. Filled with action ripped from current events and nods to old characters and past stories, Hard Line builds with breathtaking pace to a dramatic stand-off between the forces of violent chaos and law and order—all set amidst the quiet pines, rough towns, and gray skies of rural Maine. In his conclusion to the McMorrow series and the two-book story arc he started in Robbed Blind, Boyle delivers his most gripping book yet.

Genres: Fiction

328 pages, Paperback

Published June 11, 2024

Reviews

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review:Hard Line by Gerry Boyle 4*08/08/2024
I wasn't really crazy about this book. The theme was great, but there were a lot of characters to remember who was with who and who were the gang or the good people. For myself, there was a lot of confusion with the names. It would have been better if I read an earlier book in the series. The setting was in Maine, near where I live, and as I could tell, the setting was correct. I liked Jack McMorrow as the journalist who wrote for the Rumford Falls Times. He was in one event as another, and I liked the way he and his daughter had a good relationship even though he worried about her some, making him a caring parent. There was a lot of suspense and mystery, and the author didn't leave out the thrills. This is the final book in the series, but I couldn't keep up with the many of the characters. The author developed the characters well and but I just think it would have been better if I read an earlier book. I still rated it high because his writing was good and the theme was there and it was set in Maine.
Maine is no different than any other State; They have their crimes, drugs, and domestic abuse, motorcycle gangs all wrapped in one. Jack felt like his life was in chaos. he had life-threatening, dangerous situations that he needed to get settled so he could finally move on with his life. Jack also had a vendetta against a dangerous man who had abused a family friend. Now, the lethal biker's gang was hunting him down. In the end, Jack must face off against violent chaos and the law among the quiet pines and rough towns in rural Maine. Will Jack even survive?

[Linda R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a reader; Gerry Boyle is a writer.

I am one of many readers who admire his writing. He constructs and personalizes his characters as perfectly as did the Master of the crime genre, the late Raymond Chandler. This is the most complicated book in the series, lots of twists and turns. This book is really, really good !! I have been a Gerry Boyle fan for the past 15 years.

Off we go…..

Jack McMorrow, an investigative reporter, makes his final appearance in “Hard Line.”
Jack’s adventures in the 14 book series have been exciting with scenes that are often tender with his wife and daughter and a pony named Pokey but with deathly danger lurking in the lovely snowy Maine countryside. There are wild scenes featuring guns, gangs, robbers, fire and lots of trucks. There are neatly placed references to current events, teenager obsessions & the dangers they face often framed within a video game reference, extreme zealots, gallantry in battle. “Hard Line” is serious. In Jack’s case true sacrifice tops it all.

Jack’s good friend, Clair, a post Vietnam Marine, sums it up, “God almighty, McMorrow. Can’t leave you alone for a minute.”

I enjoyed this book so much. I shall miss Jack McMorrow. I sincerely hope that Gerry Boyle continues to write so that readers like me can continue to happily read his words. Thank you, Gerry. Sincerely.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard Line is the final book in the Jack McMorrow series going back to the early 1990s. I'm sorry to see it end. It's a terrific series showing the small towns in Maine can mirror the problems found in big cities. As a reporter in the early books and a freelancer in the later books as the newspaper industry has faded slowly into irrevelancy Jack continues to follow leads that become stories. Hard Line wraps up several stories that Jack had reported on in previous books and adds resolution to new ones. The surprise ending is a fitting way for Gerry Boyle to end the series and for Jack to retain his moral outlook and integrity during difficult times.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the final book in a series of novels involving Jack McMorrow, an investigative reporter in rural Maine, who always seems to get himself in trouble. I have never read the last book in a series without reading previous ones, but overall I still understood the character and where he is coming from. There seems to be some unresolved issues form previous stories, but it didn’t affect this story or my take on it. I really enjoyed it and will go back and read the previous installments. This one was certainly thrilling and suspenseful.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard Line is written by Gerry Boyle.
Hard Line is Book #14 in Gerry Boyle’s Jack McMorrow Mystery series. Published in June 2024, the title is a continuation of Robbed Blind, Book #13 published in 2022.
This is the last book of the series. The final book/chapter of the long-running, award-winning Jack McMorrow series.

Gerry Boyle is a Maine author, very gifted in the ‘art of NOIR’, gifted in his Jack Morrow character and gifted in his very realistic descriptions of central Maine and its citizens.
Gerry Boyle’s early career was a journalist, reporting for the Rumford Falls Times and then for the Waterville Morning Sentinel as a reporter and columnist, which is where I first became acquainted with his work.

I like Mr. Boyle’s writing very much. It is tense, descriptive, to the point, realistic, well-plotted and very personal. It is very NOIR. NOIR is a genre of crime fiction which is characterized by cynicism, fatalism and moral ambiguity. NOIR is gritty, ‘hard-boiled’ and (my favorite description) ‘whiskey neat’.

The plot of Hard Line is complex and is a continuation of the plot and characters in Robbed Blind. Jack McMorrow “finds himself balancing a personal vendetta against the dangerous man who has abused a family friend with a lethal biker gang hunting for him and his crew.”

I ‘won’ both books, Robbed Blind and Hard Line, from Library Thing’s Early Reviewers Giveaway. I would recommend both titles with 5 Stars *****.

[Tony Sannicandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

good story but too much unreal fisticuffs.